A familiar celebrity from Williams Lake is sharing his experience with the 2017 wildfires to be the spokesperson for this season’s FireSmart BC campaign.
Pioneer Log Homes of B.C. general manager and Timber Kings’ star Bryan Reid Sr. said during 2017 the company suffered significant losses at its Likely Road compound in 150 Mile House.
“We lost the houses that were being built, all our tools and our crane,” Reid said. “While we were there we certainly could not turn a blind eye to all the homes that were there and the devastation. We stayed behind to help where we could.”
Reid said he was asked by FireSmart BC to be part of the campaign about two months ago.
He just happened to be at a Harmac Pacific board meeting in Nanaimo when he got the call so he met with some folks from Fire Smart the next day in Vancouver.
Excited about the information provided by FireSmart BC, Reid said the public can learn everything they need to know in about 15 minutes by checking out the website.
“You could know as much about wildfire as anybody, with the exception of a firefighter,” he added. “They’ve done their homework to make it very readable and easy to understand, depending on how big your property is and how big the trees are.”
With the present COVID-19 pandemic and its physical distancing requirements, Reid suggested it’s the ideal time for people to go outside and trim their lower branches, clean the eaves-troughs and move combustibles away from their homes.
Reid thinks bigger wildfire seasons could be the new normal so the better people are prepared the better.
On the FireSmart website he offers a series of tips.
“You need three things to start a fire,” he said. “You need oxygen, you need heat and you need fuel. If you remove any one of those things you will be better off. They are trying to get you to remove the fuel and you cannot have a fire without fuel.”
Reid added, what’s wrong with learning new things, especially when it can save your life and your belongings?
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BC Wildfire Service FireSmart Canada provincial liaison Amanda Reynolds told the Tribune they are excited to have Reid involved with the program.
“Bryan, with his experiences in 2017, wanted to help get the message out on behalf of the BC Fire Smart committee which I chair,” Reynolds said. “He really wants to give back and believes in wildfire preparedness and prevention so it was a good partnership for us.”
The committee includes membership from the BC Wildfire Service (BCWS), Office of the Fire Commissioner (OFC), Union of BC Municipalities (UBCM), Fire Chiefs’ Association of BC (FCABC), Emergency Management BC (EMBC), Forest Enhancement Society of BC (FESBC) and First Nations’ Emergency Services Society of BC (FNESS).
Read more: Signatured logs to become permanent 2017 wildfire legacy
“It’s great for the public to see that we all have responsibility and a role in fire season,” she said, noting they thought it would be good to feature someone local such as Reid.
“I personally have never lost anything to a fire so I think it’s more telling when you have someone who has experienced loss to a fire and it’s nice to have someone from industry.”
During the 2017 wildfires Reynolds was stationed at the Cariboo Fire Centre helping out with communications, living out of her vehicle, and knows firsthand how the region was impacted.
For the next three months, FireSmart BC will be pushing the message for homeowners to do their part by preparing their homes and properties for the 2020 wildfire season.
“FireSmarting is all about looking at your home through the lens of making it more resilient toward wildfires.”
Going step by step the best thing to do is focus on the home and 1.5 metres out to make it a non-combustible zone.
“I tell people not to get overwhelmed, but just chip away at it.”
If residents make an effort to FireSmart their property it will make it a lot easier for a fire department or BCWS to protect that home, she added.
Grateful to be able to give back, Reid said he still stops in and visits fire departments in other areas of B.C. who came to the Cariboo’s aid in 2017.
“They volunteered to come here and help us
The homeowner’s manual from FireSmart BC is available for downloading from the website.
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